Thursday, May 7, 2015

A Quick Hello

We had a few things not go our way this week, but that is life I guess! We are still doing a lot of digital mission work and talking with people from all over the world. We were using Google + to meet and talk to people the past few weeks, but it wasn't working out so we are back to our original website called Interpals. This place is a goldmine, there are tons of people that are willing to talk to us. We Skype with people in Hong Kong, Russia, Brazil and Turkey this week and taught individuals about the Gospel. It is pretty amazing what ya can do with technology. It is awesome to see the good things that you can do with it. So often we just hear about all the bad things that come from the internet. But God allowed us to have this invention, and there are obviously a lot of good things can come from it. We are able to find people through the internet and teach them about the Gospel, and it is usually people who would likely not come in contact with missionaries in the outside world. A lot of the people that we talk to are people who are constantly on their computers, so we are tapping into a finding pool that hasn't really been used yet. It is pretty exciting to see how the Lord is using this trial digital mission work to move the work forward. I can't wait to see what comes out of this.

This week we had a special opportunity to attend a lecture at the Harvard School of Business. It was designed as a youth activity for one of the Boston wards, and it is kind of a long story as to why we were invited, but it was really cool! Professor DeLong teaches there at HBS, and is also a member of the church locally. He taught us how to basically be successful and happy at the same time. He basically showed how he teaches his students to be Christlike in the business world, but without teaching about Jesus Christ and preaching his religion. I don't really know how to explain it, but it was really good! So see, I always told you guys I was gonna attend school at Harvard.

We had a mini missionary come spend the weekend with us, his name was Eric and he came down from Nashua, NH. He is 16 and is a Junior in high school up there. We had a solid weekend together, there wasn't a second of free time really. We were hoping to get him out on the streets tracting for a while but we just didn't have any time to do that. I think he was pretty happy that we didn't do any tracting haha. We did do a little bit of street contacting walking to and from appointments to try and show him what it is like to talk to everyone and invite everyone to learn more. We got some pretty harsh rejections haha so that was good for him to see. I was walking out in front of the group and there was this one lady standing out on her porch that I smiled and waved at and said hello. She responded with a "No". So that was pretty rude and then I said "Oh don't worry ma'am I was just saying hello to you, that's all". Then she said "No, I don't want your hello." I thought that was pretty rude haha so I said "Wow...well alright then!" and kept walking. I am not sure how someone can turn down a hello, but she somehow was determined to not accept my hello. So yeah, Eric had some great mission experiences throughout the weekend haha.

So we met with Matt a few times this week, and finished up teaching the commandments. He came to church again this week, and we talked a lot about his upcoming baptism which is scheduled for Saturday. But then Sunday after church he went home to invite his parents to his baptism, which we were all pretty nervous for haha. They aren't too sure about the whole Mormon thing. So he talked to his mom, and she was actually fine with his decision to be baptized. But...she wants him to hold off a little bit longer. I am sure she just wants to make sure he is actually committed to this. We think it will be best to honor his mom's wish and push the baptism back a month or two. So unfortunately Matt won't be baptized while I am still here. I was a little bummed at first but it is fine. The mission has definitely taught me that everything happens according the the Lord's time. There are things that are just out of our control. We can do our very best to serve and help people, but there are always factors that God controls and we just have to be patient and willing to do whatever God sees fit. He has wise purposes for everything, which we don't often see or understand. So, it will all work out! We are going to do the Freedom Trail today, so I gotta go! Love ya all!!!!

Frankie, Coco and Buttons

Ya can't see too well, but this is me standing at the top of the steps to one of the buildings at the Harvard School of Business.